Swanand Kirkire, Shantanu Moitra, Karsh Kale, Amit Trivedi, and a host of new artistes are part of the new season

Coke Studio@MTV returns with Season 2 on MTV India and will see new musicians and artistes come together and create original music. The new season will showcase independent, classical, folk EDM and popular artistes jam in a live performance format. What’s special is that each composition will be original and exclusive, created by some of the most experimental music producers of India.

Read on to know more about the people performing at the popular music show this season, with introductions courtesy MTV India.

Amit Trivedi – Recognised for bringing in a new sound and revolution into Bollywood. Known for his fresh experimentation in film music, with varied instrumentation, rustic and unknown voices. Amit is the winner of a National Award for best composer.

Nitin Sawhney – A proficient pianist, who also plays other instruments like tabla, drums and bass, Sawhney has been hailed internationally for combining musical patterns from Bach and Debussy to jazz, flamenco and Indian classical ragas. He has composed music for theatre, dance orchestra and several international projects.

Karsh Kale – Tabla maestro and DJ, dubbed as the pioneer of the Asian Underground movement, his sound is described as a blend of drum and bass, electronica and Indian classical music. Karsh is also the founding member of ‘Tabla Beat Science’, which includes musical luminaries like Zakir Hussain, Talveen Singh and Trilok Gurtu.

Clinton Cerejo – Best known for vocal, music arrangements and production vision, Clinton first caught the fancy of AR Rahman and subsequently went on to create pathbreaking music across various spheres, from ad films, to gospel choirs to film music. He is considered an ace at fusing western sensibilities seamlessly into rustic Indian music.

Shantanu Moitra – A beacon of independent music, he started off creating jingles for Pradeep Sarkar, worked with the likes of Shubha Mudgal in his early years, and finally moved on to scoring compositions for critically acclaimed music in movies like 3 Idiots and Parineeta.

Ehsaan & Loy – From working together since their first independent project, Instant Karma along with Shankar Mahadevan, this duo of Ehsaan – arguably the best guitarist of India – and Loy, a pianist and bass guitarist have composed many pathbreaking compositions across varied genres.

Hitesh Sonik – Started off as a rhythm guitarist, who subsequently went on to produce and arrange compositions for films. Hitesh is credited with giving the experimental edge to Vishal Bhardwaj’s earthy compositions that represents the sound of India.

Also, the eighth episode will feature five potential superstars in the Indian music scenario.

Hari and Sukhmani – This Chandigarh based duo seamlessly fuse Punjabi folk with ambient electronic. Sukhmani is a trained Hindustani singer from Rampur Gharana and Hari, an audio engineer who excels in electronic.

Dhruv Sangari – Also known as Bilal Chisti, best known for his Sufi renditions, worked under the guidance of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and is already dubbed as one of the best, young Sufi exponents of the country.

Papon – An Assam-based singer, composer and producer, he has already received rave reviews for his versatile voice that ranges from traditional Assamese folk to Hindustani classical and is credited with creating a brand new genre.

Folktronica, Shilpa Rao and Ashvin Mani Sharma and Ash Roy (Jalebee Cartel) – Shilpa Rao, known for her deep soulful voice, trained in Hindustani classical and known for her experimentation across both independent music collaborations and Indian cinema. Ashvin and Ash have been founding members of Jalebee Cartel, and have led the EDM movement in India and are known for their progressive psychedelic and electronic sounds having released several records and playing at the biggest music festivals globally.

Agam – A contemporary Carnatic rock act from Bangalore, it has been creating waves in the indie music scene and rated by MTV Roots as the hottest rock act to watch out for in 2012.